Posts Tagged ‘Jewish Mysticism’

Every Saturday night after the Sabbath is over, the prophet Elijah sits beneath the Tree of Life and records the merits of the Jewish people.

The secrets of the Torah are the trait of the manifestation of Elijah.

Therefore, if you have any connection to a desire for the secrets of the Torah, on any level whatsoever–even if it is merely something you imagine, or a feeling, or something that you can grasp with your human intellect; and certainly if (aided by God’s supernal love) you have risen to higher levels–then every Saturday night after the Sabbath is over, you should engage in the activities of Elijah. Involve yourself in the merits of the Jewish people.

With a conceptual understanding, with a bright and clear grasp, recognize the holiness of the Jewish people and their precious worth. Cling to the totality of the holy nation, the nation of God, His special inheritance, upon every individual member of which God’s holy light shines infinitely–for the world rests upon even the most empty of Jews.

Tremble with a holy awe at the holiness of the divine, supernal soul of every Jew. Be filled with a transcendent yearning and desire for the holy elevated advancement of the Jewish people in general, and for the success of every individual Jew in all the works of his hands, in physical and spiritual matters, [bringing him] everything good.

From the midst of the depths of your soul, sing and proclaim, “Happy are you, Israel, happy are you, Israel! Who is like you, a nation redeemed by God! I have loved you, my nation and people, I have desired you with all my heart, with all my soul. I yearn for you with all the warmth of my heart, with all the fire of my bones. I yearn to see your glory, your beauty and your grandeur, the time that you will be raised and uplifted, the time that you will grow in your own characteristic beauty, when all your special qualities will come to the fore and the wondrous things hidden within you [will emerge] from the potential to the actual, a time that you will be planted in and become an inhabitant of the land that matches your character, the land of your beauty. Then, to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west, the beauty of your strength and the height of your horn will be revealed.

“The nations will see your righteousness and all the kings your glory, and they will call you by a new name that the mouth of God will pronounce, and you will be the diadem of beauty in the hand of God, a headband of sovereignty in the hand of God.”

There is a special gift of satisfaction, which we request as part of the Shabbat and Holy Day Prayers: V’sabeinu MiTuvecha – Satisfy us from Your Best – Our souls are desperate to reconnect with their source and cannot find satisfaction without that connection. This is why the generation of the desert, despite all their gifts, could not find satisfaction. Our Souls must integrate with our Sechel to be whole.

We discuss Creation from God’s perspective: Yecholet – Ability and Chuko – His Nature, and we then discuss Creation from the perspective of the Nivrah – The Created Being. Chochma is used when discussing the needs of the creations.

The Divine Ratzon – Will was for a creation that could master itself and achieve perfection. That Will can only be perfectly satisfied with a creation that lacks Shleimut/Perfection and has an opportunity to achieve it for itself.

Therefore, the Creation is PERFECTLY matched to the Ratzon/Will processed through Machashava/Thought.

God’s Yecholet?Ability and Chuko/Nature are part of the Creation, therefore it expanded, bit Olamo – The world as we know it, and Shamayim – The System as governed by through the Transcendental Forces and Angels in Heaven, expanded until stopped. Their nature is to expand.

Whenever we limit ourselves we are experiencing the “Stop!” of Shadai.

John, Doctor Subtilis, of the village of Duns in Berwickshire, Scotland, (1266-1308) developed the notion of “Haecceity” as a way of giving expression to the uniqueness or the indivisible “thisness” of a person. His followers were called “Dun’s Men” from where we get the notion of a “dunce” or stupid fellow who believes himself subtle.

I don’t know about the subtle part, but I do believe in the importance of appreciating the uniqueness of a person.

A great debate rages in my family whether each of us must first focus on becoming individuals and only then submitting to God or vice versa. Is the submission of a person who does not have a sense of self, worthwhile? Is it too risky to focus on self-development? Even if we acknowledge the importance of developing ourselves: Do we consider the challenges of our times so terrible that we must sacrifice our self-development in order to fight for the Jewish people?

“There will be no eating or drinking”: is only necessary if we exist as we are now; souls and bodies.

“Crowns”: indicate relationship, as with the Mitzvah of Brit Milah/Circumcision which is the shaping of a crown on the place of relationship. The Crowns indicate the level of relationship we have achieved.

“Crowns” are also reminiscent of Sinai when they had two crowns one for “We will Do” and one for “We will relate.” The Crowns were a reflection of what they had achieved through experiencing Revelation. They lost the crowns when they sinned with the Golden Calf. Moshe collected the crowns and offers them to us on Shabbat, the day on which we can experience the level of Olam Habah/World to Come that we have earned.

The Crowns also reflect the teaching of the Zohar that each letter of our prayers is raised to heaven by an angel, and the angels if empowered by our prayers, dance around each other as they fly to heaven, creating new combinations of letters and words, that all go to decorate the Divine Crown. The Zohar also teaches that each Mitzvah we perform can fly upward and decorate the Divine Crown. As we enhance the Divine Crown we are actually preparing the Crowns we will wear in the World-To-Come. They will be an exact reflection of our efforts and , therefore, we will be able to fully relate to and enjoy the Shechina – The Reflection of the Level of Relationship Achieved by The Perfected Community – without any dissonance.

The Soul in its natural state cleaves to God. We do not need to create a new reality that seems so beyond us. D’veikut – Attachment to God – is the natural state of the Soul. That is why the Ramchal adds the words Teshuva – to Return to our natural state.

The Ramchal describes “Attaching to God’s Kedusha – Sanctity” and then being able to enjoy our grasp of His Kavod – Presence. The concepts of Kedusha and Kavod are associated in the praises of the Angels that we describe in Kedusha: “Holy, holy, Holy…His Kavod – Glory – fills the earth.”

Kedusha is not the boundary, but the unique relationship that is created by its boundaries. The Kedusha of the relationship between a husband and wife develops from an appreciation of the uniqueness of what they have. When two young people marry they have only the boundaries of marriage, but not yet an appreciation of how they help each other grow and develop. As they grow together, they begin to appreciate how they are shaping each other and that they have something that reflects the deepest parts of each of them. They develop an awareness of the uniqueness of their relationship. They develop the sense of Kedusha.

As they increase the Kedusha of their marriage, they a) have a greater sense of the presence (Kavod) of the other in their lives, and b) it becomes heavier (Kavaid) or more intense.

A soul that successfully masters herself understands that she has a unique relationship with the Creator. She develops her strengths and attaches to her Source. Her relationship with God is unique, or in our terms, Kadosh. She can then experience the joy of God’s Presence (Kavod) and the relationship intensifies (Kavaid.)

We now say: “Blessed be the Name of His Glory”, because we can speak of His Kavod only with an appellation, a name. However, once we achieve D’veikut – attachment, we will not speak of “Shem kivod malchuto” but “Kivod Malchuto.”

The Soul forms a unique attachment to God.

The Soul enjoys the Intensity of God’s Presence without 1) anything holding her back, 2) anything blocking her development, and 3) any barrier between God and her.

The first verse describes “Az” as in “Az Yashir” of the Song of the Sea. It is the pleasure of the moment of realization. The Wow!

The second verse is a description of living with God’s countenance.

The third describes the creation of Satisfaction, for which we often pray: “Sabeinu”. The creation of satisfaction will be developed as he continues to define Shleimut – Perfection & Chisaron – Lacking.

We compared these ideas to the two verse the Ramchal quotes in Messilat Yesharim – Path of the Just, Chapter 1: (Psalm 73) “As for me, Closeness to God is what is good to me.” Note the stress on me; my unique experience.

2) (Psalm 27) “One thing I have asked…” The soul reaches a stage in which she realizes that there is only one good.

We compared this too to Derech Hashem – The Way of God – Section One, Chapter 2, Paragraph 13.

The Ramchal then seems to wax poetic: “Verses in every corner of the prophets and Writings, Revealed to all the nations, Search from above the Torah and Read!”

Once you understand these three verse, you will discover hints throughout the Prophets and writings, tucked away in the corners. You will have begun a process that will only expand until you realize that this concept of the Torah offering a relationship with God is revealed throughout all its words, and then you will be able to develop it more and more. It will not stop expanding. You will only have a sense of Shleimut – Perfection being more. Which is why the Sechel – Intellect said earlier that it did not want to begin with Perfection: It is impossible to be defined. In fact, this sense of constant expansion is so intense that God created a sense of satisfaction so that the person will not experience the search as an eternal quest without ever achieving any peace.

The Midrash describes an interesting question and answer between a student and his rabbi on the topic of prayer: “Why are so many prayers unsuccessful?” asked the student. The rabbi answered; “Because people do not know to Whom they pray.”

It makes sense to say that we must know to Whom we pray in order for our prayer to succeed. Who is God? What is God? Isn’t God unknowable?

Adon Olam is a review of basic ideas about God, principles that are necessary to keep in mind when we pray.

Abraham was the first to describe God as Master of the Universe. He was the first to understand that God’s rule was not limited to the mysterious heavens, unreachable for those on earth. Abraham understood that when we acknowledge God we actually coronate Him as King of this world. We play a significant role in establishing God’s rule, here, on earth. It is those who develop a real relationship with God who bring His Presence to this world.

Abraham introduced the idea of a reciprocal relationship with the Creator. The phrase “Adon Olam” reminds us of Abraham’s accomplishment. It reminds us that we must pray as one half of a two-way relationship.

The Name of God, YHVH, represents; “He was, He is and He will be.” God is eternal, beyond time. God is Being. God is existence. We desire to attach to true existence and being. Our prayers are an expression of that desire.

This prayer states that we exist as expressions of God’s Will. That will is expressed in love as God provided all the needs of human beings before creating them. He cares for us. Our prayers are effective because of that love and care.

Tool Box:

God “desires” that we exist.

We should never hesitate to ask God to help. Simply asking acknowledges that He has the power to respond, and that He listens!

God provided all the needs of a human being before creating the primal human.

4) That enjoyment will not be limited by any of the three major barriers: 1. Hindrance – Someone or something holding you back from moving forward, 2. Barrier, and 3. Impediment.

5) The Ramchal quotes three verses to explain and define each of the three limitations to enjoyment.

6) Whenever the Ramchal quotes more than one proof-text, he intends to prove more than one point.

7) The three limitations are discussed in prayer: Amidah: Avot: “Melech ozer, u’Moshia, U’magain – The King Who Helps, saves and shields.

8) Hindrance refers to ego interfering with attachment: Jacob holding on to Esau’s heel (where the Serpent of Eden attacks) is holding Esau back from asserting power – a positive hindrance. Serving God without integrity – with self-serving motivation – is ego. The attacks of others in word and deed create barriers. Our inability to accept that God uses His abundant blessings to guide us toward the fulfillment of our purpose in life is the impediment.

9) This too is in the Amidah: Gevurot: Mechakail Chaim – God sustains us in order to help us achieve Techiat Hameitim – World to Come – which is our ultimate purpose.